I just took a business trip to Tucson, AZ, and sat next to a man who was having low back pain that was extremely uncomfortable. We talked about find the source of this pain and why sitting for hours is actually the cause of his problem. I explained to him that when a muscle called the iliopsoas contracts it allows him to go from standing to sitting, however when you then sit for a long time the muscle stays in that shortened position and it won't stretch when you stand up. The muscle is now putting pressure on the lumbar vertebrae and you feel pain in your low back. This is explained on my website (www.julstro.com) in the section titled "Muscles and Pain". Tension in the iliopsoas muscle also causes the thigh muscles to contract and pull down of the pelvis, furthering the low back problem.

I showed him how to use his elbow to press on his thigh muscles to lengthen them. All you need to do is push your elbow into your thigh at the very top of your leg, press down and slide to your knee. This will help your pelvis to rotate back where it belongs and take some of the pressure off the low back. Then by just doing the stretch that is demonstrated in my website, the iliopsoas is lengthened and the pressure is now off the lumbar vertebrae.

The stretch is really easy, and he just stood up right there in the aisle and did it. He was thrilled, immediately his low back felt so much better.

Give it a try, you don't need to suffer!